Aqua Fiesta 2011

Tiendesitas  Mall , Pasig City

Aqua Fiesta 2011 signage within the Tiendesitas Mall grounds

This is an opening salvo for this year for fish lovers , aquarium fanatics and hobbyists. The three day event started  from February 25 to 27, 2011 at the Tiendesitas People Village activity center in Pasig  City.

Tiendesitas Mall is also a favorite event site for dog shows , cat shows and fish shows since 2005 .

Aqua Fiesta 2011 poster

The poster showed a rare arowana fish with  event partners collateral  which includes Manila Bulletin ,Asian Betta Alliance, Las Farolas , Tiendesitas , Bureau of Fishes and Aquatic Resources, PHALS, Koi, Philippine Datnioides Group , Manila Bulletin agriculture magazine , People’s Tonight among others.

Mr.Henry G. Babiera addressing the crowd during the opening

The event was graced by prominent people like representatives from the Ortigas corporation to  ordinary fish hobbyists  .  Mr. Henry G. Babiera the special leasing manager of Greenhills and Tiendesitas  , tiangge market magnate, plant connoisseur, antique collector, dog lover and a certified fish collector was also on hand to greet the visitors . According to some friends from the industry , He is developing a zoo-like safari in his hometown in Guimaras .

There is also the expensive collection of Mr.  Carlo/Cetarius  and a sampling of  Mr. Henry Babiera  rare collections /Las Farolas  it is  also said that Mr. Babiera has the very expensive collections of Platinum SR  arowana.

tarpaulin poster of Las Farolas

Las Farolas will soon rise beside ARK Avilon Zoo which will feature fresh water fishes from Mr. Babiera’s collection from different parts of the world. ( the author hope that he can feature Philippine native fishes too!) The construction manager is AMCON Company .

stage area before the formal opening ceremonies

opening day crowd

The aim of the show is to educate the public on how to take care of their fishes, importance of the freshwater aquarium industry , information dissemination  and the experience of  competition among fish hobbyists.

Aquascape tanks for public judging

Morning Glory and Eden is the title of the Aquascape complete with freshwater fishes and live aquatic plants

Aquascape entitled ” The Lawn “, ” Unconventional ” ,” Dream “, ” Links, “Forgotten Trees”

There is also a public voting  in which the public is given a chance to vote on which aquascape tanks  they think is the best. However, Just to make sure of the criteria set there is a separate more experienced  judges for the aquascape competition .

various varieties of Betta fishes exhibited by members of Asian Betta Alliance

Arowana exhibit

Unlike  other fish shows  wherein  judging aqua scape competition is close to the public  . Aqua Fiesta 2011  allowed  public  participation  in which visitors were given a piece of white paper and then write the title of the exhibit whom he/ she thinks is the best executed aqua scape . The winner  will  get the ” Public Vote ” or ”  Visitor’s Choice” at the end of the show.

Wajok Super Red Arowana with the scientific name : Scleropages formosus and a micro chip number  1828161976 were produced in captivity by Indonesian fish breeder P.T. Wajok Intilestari were raffled -off as First Prize

gold fish and koi figurine on sale – large one may fetch Php 1,800 per piece

As for the public, There is no entrance fees and for a minimal purchase of tickets a beautiful arowana courtesy of A1/ Chinatown Pet Center priced at around Php 30,000 were  raffled among the attendees,  while a lucky few  even had Flower Horn fries . There were about 2 dozen commercial booth which sells a variety of stuffs from t-shirt , kois , fish foods,  fish figurines  a soft ice cream and several food stalls.

Opening day buffet meal

Philippine Arowana and Lou Han Society booth

According to the PHALS Secretariat here are some of the winners of the raffle:

Thai ZZ by JM Yao: Paul Uy, ticket#281 (prize claimed)
Thai Silk 1: Asian Betta Alliance, ticket#468 (prize claimed)
Thai Silk 2: Jeremy Go, ticket#535 (prize claimed)
Thai King Kamfa 1: Rex Am-Ben Oliniquino, ticket#253 (prize unclaimed)
Thai King Kamfa 2: Randolf A. Tanora, ticket#388 (prize claimed)
Thai King Kamfa 3: Airol Joe dela Rosa, ticket#329 (prize claimed)

Wajok Super Red Arowana  : Maria Victoria Aranilla with ticket # 270 ( prize claimed)

Chubby Musubi tarpaulin poster

Interestingly , There was a food exhibitor from Cavite with a fusion of Filipino, Japanese , Hawaiian and Western style of fast food. The primary origin of the snack is the Japanese onigiri also known as omusubi with sticky rice  formed into triangular or oval shapes wrapped in nori wrapper .  Its  fillings is  with pickled ume / umeboshi , salted slamon , kombo, tarako , katsuobushi or any other salty or sour ingredient as a natural preservatives.

Since then , the Japanese immigrants to Hawaii  brought the recipe but had changed some of the ingredient to suit the western palate.

Spam musubi is composed of a block of rice with a slice of grilled  spam on top and nori  (seaweed) wrapping to hold it together.

several types of Musubi in wrapped in nori wrapper

They call the food stall Chubby Musubi , the friends were both graduate of De La Salle University. According to one of the proprietors , They started their food business  in the early part of 2010 and opened a food kiosk business within La Salle University- Dasmarinas branch in Cavite. Now their operations is in full blast and had a facebook account which advertise their products.

Spamdesal a unique taste to suit hungry appetite

Their spamdesal bun is not your ordinary bun but is said to be from a  local bakery from Cavite, The spam is also different from the commercialized spam  . They even had a local intellectual property patent for their products to prevent other entrepreneurs from copying their unique products. Their spamdesal filling is quite nutritious with vegetable fillings like onions, bell pepper, lettuce  and tomato . Its  market target were the students , teenagers, yuppies  and people on the go.

The owners  said that  they wanted to open the franchising of their food kiosk  in the near future . I hope that they can succeed in their endeavor.

The author would like to congratulate the organizers of the successful Aqua Fiesta 2011.

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